Hydraulic engineering facility contract signed for Akkuyu plant

A contract has been signed for the design and construction of offshore hydraulic engineering structures designed to process seawater for cooling Turkey's planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

Akhundov and Cengiz at the signing ceremony (Image: Rosatom)

The document was signed in Ankara on 1 July by Fuad Akhundov, chief executive of Akkuyu NPP JSC, and Asym Cengiz, member of the board of directors at the contractor for the project, Cengiz Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret AS.

JSC Akkuyu NPP announced in April that Cengiz Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret AS had won the tender for the turnkey contract. Other bidders were: a consortium of STFA-Makyol-Rönesans; Kolin Insaat Turizm Sanayii Ve Ticaret AS; and Ictas Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS.

The same month, government and company officials launched construction of what will be Turkey's first nuclear power plant.

Fuad said signing of the contract - a 300-page, Russian-Turkish bilingual document - meant work on the Akkuyu project could begin in earnest.

Sited in Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast, the Russian-designed Akkuyu plant is the first of three nuclear power plants the country plans to build to help boost its economy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuel imports.

Construction work is expected to begin on the first of Akkuyu's four 1200 MWe Gidropress-designed AES-2006 VVER pressurized water reactors this year or next. The plant is being financed by Russia according to a build-own-operate model, under an intergovernmental agreement signed by Turkey and Russia in 2010. The project is expected to be completed in 2020.

According to the intergovernmental agreement, Turkey is to "fully implement the principle of localization of construction services at this stage of the project", Rosatom said on 1 July.

It is expected that Turkish contractors will be able to complete 90% of building work, about 50% of installation works and supply 40% of the plant's equipment. The total involvement of Turkish companies in the project may reach 35-40%, with a contract order value of $6.8 billion, Rosatom said.